"And you agreed?"
"As you see."
"In your place," said I meditatively, "I should have gone at once to Marshminster and confronted both. There is some trickery about this."
"You think so?"
"I am by nature suspicious," I answered, "perhaps too much so. Yes! I think there is some trickery."
Francis frowned and glanced at his watch.
"It is now eight o'clock," he said, replacing it in his pocket, "too late to go to Marshminster.'
"Besides which," I added, "our worthy landlord has doubtless neither trap nor horse."
By this time we had finished supper and Rose came in to clear away. Thoughtfully filling my pipe I watched her closely. Undeniably she was a very beautiful woman, and ill suited to her present occupation. Why a girl so handsome should bury herself in this lonely inn was a mystery to me. I felt sure that there was a purpose connected with her presence here, and that inimical to Briarfield. The landlord did not make his appearance, which was to me a matter of some relief. I disliked the fellow greatly.
Francis, smoking hard, sat staring at the fire, and took no heed of Rose. Once or twice she glanced in his direction, and looked as though about to address him. Catching my eye, she bit her lip and desisted. Finally she disappeared from the room with manifest anger at not having accomplished her design.